Govt accused of fixing agenda of meeting on palm price guarantee
A meeting to discuss the palm price guarantee scheme failed as the government had already fixed the agenda, Sittiporn Jariyapong, vice-chairman of the National Farmers Council, said.
The guaranteed price was fixed at Bt4 per kilogram but the government has said it will compensate based on the average price of the last 45 days.
Sittiporn argued that the price needed to be higher, as supplies are lower and global palm prices have increased. Even though a short-term buoyancy was necessary, he disagreed with the government’s plan to separate the market price and the guaranteed price.
The key factor is to improve the quality of palms by extracting at least 18 per cent of palm oil to compete with Malaysia and the budget for manpower and fertilizers also must be compensated.
In addition, the price needs to correspond to market mechanisms. However, this issue wasn’t mentioned in the meeting, he said.
